Jack Chick

Cartoonist

Born: 13 April 1924

Birthplace: Los Angeles, California

Best known as: Creator of those little Christian comic books

Jack T. Chick is the founder and president of Chick Publications, publishers of comic books that encourage people follow Jesus and convert to Christianity as the only way to avoid eternity in Hell. Most of Chick's comics tell simple stories of sinners seeing the errors of their ways -- not always before it's too late. Chick's personal life is a well-guarded secret: according to his official biography he served in World War II; he converted to Christianity in 1948 (though he is not affiliated with any church); and sometime in the late 1950s he began drawing comics as a way to spread the gospel. His palm-sized tracts have been ubiquitous ever since, distributed anonymously in bus stations, laundromats and diners across America. In the 1970s Chick began publishing regular-sized comics and hiring other artists, and by the 1990s his underground fame as a proselytizing cartoonist had grown to include an international audience and fan tributes on the Web.

Extra credit: Chick is not without critics: his frequent attacks on other religions (especially Catholicism), homosexuality and rock music have raised the ire of several religious and non-religious groups... Many Chick Publications have been banned in Canada as "hate literature."